Best AF P&S film camera?

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squirrel$$$bandit

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Just out of curiosity...what's the favorite autofocus point-n-shoot film camera of the RFF set? One of the Contax T series perhaps? What is out there that can get you close to the quality you might get from your interchangeable-lens RF?
 
Vivitar Ultra Slim and Wide. Or is that Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim.

It's not AF, not autoexposure or autoanything, and that's what makes it so good.

I bought mine for $2.95 at the local thrift store.
 
I use either Olympus Stylus Epic or Pentax UC-1. Functionally very close to each other but I tend to use the UC-1 more mainly because it is slightly bigger and more rectangular. Easier to handle for me.
Rob
 
Olympus Stylus Epic because it has an advantage that few others do, you can pull it out, turn it on, and shoot entirely one handed.

A P&S is a special purpose camera for us here at RFF. It needs to be one we can simply "point" and then "shoot". I don't want to compromise that "point / shoot" ability with having to worry about anything else like setting exposure, focusing, winding, and the like. I have other cameras for that.

I have found the Stylus Epic the only camera I can use while riding a bike. (riding, not straddling the top tube) It's that one handed thing.

Oh, and the lens is very good.
 
I haven't used some of the more expensive suggested cameras, but the Olympus Stylus Epic (mju II) is really good. The metering on it is excellent, especially when you use the spot meter, and I've had consistently great results from mine.

It would be nice if the lens was slightly faster but I don't really know what is? And aperture control would be nice.

Other than that, it's a near perfect camera. Great ergnomics, good metering, good results. Many of my favourite shots ever were taken on it.
 
Rollei 35 AFM has a nice feature set and a wonderful lens. I shoot my little Stylus Epic a lot though when I want something small and bang around.
 
No one mentions the Contax T2; small enough, easy to handle, and Zeiss Sonnar lens gives image quality that is second to none.
 
My Stylus Epic is fantastic, and I've just come across a minilux which I've put a few rolls through, but haven't developed anything yet. The leica is everything I would want in a p&s, except it seems to have alot of trouble focusing on anything close to a flat plane. Much more trouble than my stylus, or the T4 I used to have.
 
I LOVED the images I got out of the Konica Hexar AF. That lens is a killer! I sold it when I mistakenly went down the DSLR rabbit hole. Now that I've returned to film, I'd buy it back in an instant if it were pocketable like my Stylus Epic.
 
For me the Leica CM is hard to beat. Much better than the Minilux and also better than the Contax T. I can't compare it to the later Contax's though, I never owned them.

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema
 
I'm not personally familiar with the Contax T2 and Leica point-n-shoot models, nor with the Hexar AF. All reputedly worthy machines, but to my mind they tend toward the larger, heftier end of the spectrum. I do know the Contax T: it's a compact (minus flash) but dense little brick and as pointed out is no point-n-shoot. The Stylus mju and the Ricoh GR's are really small and light enough to carry in your front pants pocket, thus increasing the likelihood that you'll actually have one with you when you unexpectedly spot Elvis. In a point-n-shoot, form factor *is* function. Pocketability counts more than MTFs.

"Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood."
 
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